Rating: 
Summary: Discrepancies in American Psycho
Review: I've just started reading the novel, am only on the 3rd chapter
and already, I've noticed a few discrepancies. For example, in
Chapter 1 (pg 5 in my book), Price is wearing a Ralph
Lauren tie, and yet when Price arrives at Evelyn's brownstone house
for the dinner party, he "straightens his Versace tie" (pg 8).
As well in Chapter 2, Bateman (pg 29) is wearing crocodile
loafers by A. Testoni, and this detail is again repeated a few
paragraphs later (pg 30) that the "shoes I am wearing are
crocodile loafers by A. Testoni." And Bateman is wearing an
Alan Flusser suit, which he goes into detail describing. And
yet in the next paragraph (at the beginning of Chapter 3), he's
wearing "perforated cap-toe leather shoes by Allen Edmonds". And his
outfit is all by Valentino Couture. With this second example, I
thought to myself, maybe this is a different day, maybe this
isn't a discrepancy. But than I noticed that Batemen is wearing
a dotted silk tie by Valentino couture at the both the end
of chapter 2 and beginning of chapter 3, so it must be the
same day. Ellis has put so much effort detailing every article of clothing,
furniture, labels, etc. that I found it suprising that even within
the first few chapters that I have read so far, there were
errors. I was wondering if any one else noticed these
discrepancies or if I'm just a silly git who's not reading the
book carefully enough. Any comments?
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books I ever read!
Review: As a child of the 80's I could not help but enjoy the sense of flashback! From the cutting criticisms of my favorite bands (U2, Genesis) to the cutting of another sort - it was enjoyable from cover-to-cover. Black comedy set in the decade of decadence was never better. The writing was superb as well. As a serial killer myself, I can really relate to all the inner turmoil Patrick Bateman felt throughout the book. Ok, that was a joke, but the writing was done in a manner of how I imagine a serial killer would think, so it was riveting. I would write more, but I have to return some DVDs,..er..videos!!
Rating: 
Summary: A Brilliantly Twisted Journey through a Warped Mind
Review: Despite the violence, this book is excellent. Very well crafted. Imagine if you will, one part Ted Bundy, one part Jeffrey Dahmer, one part Gordon Gekko, one part Norman Bates, one part Louis Winthorpe III, one part the Excitable Boy (from the Warren Zevon song of the same name), and maybe one part Holden Caulfield as an adult, and you've got the character of Patrick Bateman.
Just about every Tom, Dick, and Gordon who reviewed this book objected to the detailed descriptions of attire, furnishings, restaurant dishes, and beauty aids. I, however, recognized that Ellis did this to make a point about his character.
Patrick Bateman is a man whose conscience is a wasteland and whose moral landscape is a huge void. This is a guy who can describe murdering his sex partner with the same casualness as he can describe what he ate for lunch. This is a guy who is the product of a twisted society where not wearing the "right clothes" is a horror far greater than the murder of a child. Any man who can stab, insult, and mutilate a homeless man and then go order a milkshake has got to be one sick puppy indeed, and Ellis does a wonderful job of showing that.
WARNING! HERE COMES A POSSIBLE SPOILER!
The warpiest and most well-done scene was the sick twisted "restaurant date" scene where Patrick B. poisons his "sweetheart" (I put that word in quotes because I don't really think that someone so disturbed deserves to have or is capable of having a sweetheart)by presenting her with a box of "candy" that is in reality a chocolate-covered urinal deodorant disk placed in a Godiva box, a sly, witty commentary on our society's emphasis on a pretty package over the true substance of the product itself.
But DID Patrick commit these vile acts? Or did he only fantasize about it? I say, it's up to the reader to make the call. I, as a reader, personally can't decide, but one DOES hope he was fantasizing, doesn't one?
I did take off a star for the violent scenes, and I have to issue a warning -- this is NOT a book you should read while eating or before going to sleep! Still, a brilliant rendering of the landscape of a diseased mind.
Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Read
Review: Focus on the ultra-violence if you wish. Focus on the despicable nature of the main character. Focus on the surface; a book so completely littered with pop culture references it's like an advertising campaign for anything 80's chic. Focus on something deeper; search for meaning in the dialogue, the action, and yes, the endless descriptions of character wardrobe, right down to the socks. That's why this is a solid book, because the reader has options. Read about a violent serial killer in 80's New York...fine. Read it as a social commentary on the absolute emptiness of the decade...good. Read it as a dark comedy, the first person narration providing some of the funniest lines in contemporary writing...great. The point is, what we have in American Psycho is a very serious and important novel, but one that can be read in so many ways, depending on the effort that the reader wants to put into it. It's entertainment value crosses many boundaries; and isn't that what reading should be, at least somewhat entertaining? We do, after all, read in our leisure time. So what is Ellis trying to say in this story? I would say only he really knows, but my guess is that his focus lies somewhat in the fact that the greed and consumerism that defined the 80's also produced a segment of society that had no concept of who they truly were or how they truly related to one another. Hence the constant(and sometimes very monotonous) descriptions of every character's appearance, mostly including clothes and accessories. That is how this society functions and differentiates, not based on individual worth, but a pecking order that is determined by the type of suit a man wears or handbag a woman carries. It is within this vast emptiness that identity is lost. Patrick Bateman's 'identity' just happens to be that of a serial killer, but is he? Is he not? Who around him knows? Who around him cares? Ellis quotes a song prior to the book(by Talking Heads?) and it goes something like this, "And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention." This, to me, sums up the escence of the book. It is, to come full circle, my focus.
Rating:
Summary: A good book.
Review: I liked this book from page 1. It's interesting (from begining to end) and it's witty. Patrick Bateman is an interesting character with an interesting way of thinking. This is one of those books in which the reader can draw their own conclusions.
The book is much better than the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: This book is great, funny as hell, I loved it whenever Bateman felt an uneasy feeling about something he would be "filled with a nameless dread."
Rating:
Summary: A Book to Suffer Through
Review: This is not an easy book to read. Not only in terms of the gore and depravity, but reading through the pages upon pages of descriptions of clothing brand names and product lines from the time make this tedious in places. But, it is as important to the story as it is tedious. It is important to the story, to show how shallow all these character's lives are that they worry about things like this so much, that they can ramble for pages about inconsequential bands, that they drop names left and right and not always correctly, and that the restaurant reservation is the most important status symbol. I think this needs to be viewed as a complete work, that it should not be disected too far, as I feel its elements rely on each other for life, that if you strip them from each other they will die. Definitely not for the faint of heart or weak of constitution.
Rating: 
Summary: this book made me sick to my stomach
Review: First, a word of warning to those who are actually INTERESTED in the gratuitous gore advertised in this book: it's sandwiched between full chapters of descriptions of the most inane garbage I've ever seen. The author will literally spend a page or two describing the clothes of everyone at the dinner table. And a one sentence description per person won't do, of course. You'll get a paragraph describing Patrick's Allen Edmonds shoes, Boss suit, Calvin Klein shirt, Armani accessories, etc. Then, you'll get another paragraph for every other buffoon he's with. If that's not enough for you, you'll also get the same treatment for home furnishings whenever Patrick has the misfortune to go to a new location. For those of you familiar with Bret Easton Ellis, it's WORSE than the similar descriptions in Less Than Zero. Why does he think people are interested in this? Is he that dull a person? Now, for those of you who want to avoid the aforementioned gratuitous gore: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. I literally felt sick to my stomach at some scenes described in here. This is NOT due to amazing descriptive imagery by the author. Any fool can come up with descriptions of a graphic torture scene. Let's see -- a knife to the eye(make sure to include a description of the eyeball popping!), then a few stabs to the breasts...or should I make those bites? Oh yeah! I forgot to disembowel him/her! Lastly, for those who are neither pro/anti gore and are just curious for an interesting plot: this "plot" is worthless. The wannabe-cool nihilism you find in Less Than Zero is here in full effect. Maybe Ellis is trying to contrast his flat writing "style" with the graphic content, but it doesn't work.
His next book will probably be about a homeless person, with graphic descriptions of bodily secretions for shock value, and detailed descriptions about the brand of duct tape that his homeless friends use for socks to bore us to death. Why did I read this book then? I didn't, really. I started reading it because Less Then Zero had some little promise, and I wanted to see if Ellis had fixed the problems with his writing(he didn't). After the first half, I skimmed the rest, mostly because I wanted to see the main character get his comeuppance. He doesn't, of course.
Rating:
Summary: over-rated, bloodcurdling and childish.
Review: 'American Psycho' is a novel which was not only overwhelmingly
savaged by critics and literary scholars alike, but additionally, labelled as '...a revolting development' by 'Time'. I would rather not condone, or appear to condone the description of
graphic and sexual violence at such an indescribably neauseatingly and reprehensible level by recommending it.
After review I find AP insulting to one's sense of humanity in reading and a flamboyantly sickening exercise in avarice and publicity in itself. Responded with 'It would take more space
than the task deserves to catalogue all of Ellis's myriad ineptnesses.', how disconcerting that such monuments of infantile sexual and horrific gratuity exist within the guise of 'art'.
'American Psycho' is the product of a childish and disturbingly
obsessed mind, posessing the artistic merit of a very violent car accident. It is little more than a carnival of self-indulgent, gratutitous,...filth and violence, the content of which is scarcely approached by the word 'disturbing'. How AP managed to bypass obscenity laws is one for Mulder and Scully in itself. I believe the novel is poorly, and carelessly written, so busy being revolting that when it finally makes its points; they comein the shadowy aftermath of mindless, unjustifiable sex and carnage and are over-zealous, yet pale and ineffectual anti-climaxes.
Bret's literary career seems to be little more than a depressing mirror image of one of his bleak, justice-less post-modernist novels.
It impossible to retain interest in following the grizzly escapades of a character who is so balefully (pun intended) and shockingly detestable.
Unjustifiable, un-necessary and the key word is: 'gratuitously' revolting and worrying... I find it hard that
anyone would subject themselves or 'enjoy' such material at such an overwhelmingly abhorrent level. AP proves itself to be, through and through, an epic monument of infantile...violence, which uses beyond extreme means to justify points which are not only obvious to begin with, but are outweighed and dwarfed by such content. One has to wonder if, due to unbelieveable allegory, Bret was contributing further to the social decay he was 'commenting'on. 'Sociopathy' springs to mind more than 'social commentary'.
Easton Ellis has clearly demonstrated his poor grasp of satire, in a spectacle that, had it not stirred so much publicity with its horror, would been a complete non-event. The novel is also extremely long to hinge on themes which are so painfully blatant. Easton Ellis is without doubt, a talentless individual smashing his way onto the literary stage via the lowest means possible. The humour falls flat, and Easton Ellis' power of description is laughably impotent. An abominable perversion of literature and art.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece? Not quite...
Review: Social commentary? Sure. Exceptionally good social commentary for what you have to wade through? No way. With all the gory scenes depicting women being tortured and [word] in the worst way imaginable, it is an incredibly difficult book to read through asking yourself "is all this really necessary?" Apparently Ellis thinks so. But why? In the end, it all boils down to an excess of violence and [word], and the author fails to do anything but cancel out any interesting ideas with all the blood fantasies and gore. So it gets boring fast. Disgusting, gross, and excessive, but boring none the less.
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